Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week

June 24, 2008

Dear Friends united in love and service of Jesus Christ and His Church:

Circle your calendar: this Sunday, June 29th, is the feast of St. Peter and Paul. 

I’m spoiled, because this is a big feast day in Rome -- fireworks and all -- where I lived eleven happy years of my life. It’s not only a holyday but a holiday, because Peter and Paul are the patrons of Rome, considered the founders of the Church in Rome. What Romulus and Remus are to imperial Rome, the reasoning goes, Peter and Paul are to Christian Rome.

I admit that June 29th is not a “big deal” here at home, but I invite you to make it one, especially this year.

The successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, has proclaimed a Year of St. Paul, to begin on Sunday, the feast day Paul shares with Peter.

Don’t worry -- no meetings, longer Masses, or second collections are foreseen during this Year of St. Paul.

All the Holy Father is asking is that we pay special attention to this towering figure this coming year, beginning Sunday.

The case has been made that, after Jesus Himself, no figure has had a more profound impact on Christianity than St. Paul.

Hardly a Sunday goes by that we do not hear from St. Paul in the Liturgy of the Word.

Think about it: unlike Peter, Paul did not know Jesus while He was with us physically here on earth.

Peter was with our Lord daily for the three years of the Master’s public life. Peter heard Him teach, saw His miracles, shared friendship and was very close to our Lord.

Not Paul: he only knew Jesus by faith. True, Paul had a genuine, personal encounter with Christ while on the road to Damascus, which literally “knocked him off his high horse,” changed his name and his life forever.

But Paul accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior by faith.

It did not take much faith for Peter to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. Heck, Madeline Murray O’Hare would profess Jesus as Divine if she, like Peter, saw Him raise the dead, feed thousands, walk on water, cure lepers, undergo transfiguration and come back from the dead!

Paul had no such luxury.

. . . which gives Paul immense credibility, because he’s just like us. None of us were with Jesus during His three years of public life, were we?

Yet, we are expected to put our life on the line for this Christ, to believe He is the Son of God, Our Lord and Savior, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, without ever seeing Him, touching Him, hearing Him in His bodily form.

Paul is our ally, our patron, our apostle.

His faith, hope and love in and for Jesus are passionate, personal, transforming, life-changing, life-giving, now and in eternity.

He not only deserves his feast day this Sunday -- even if he has to share it with his friend (a “rocky” friendship it was!) St. Peter -- but a whole Year of St. Paul! 

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

To receive Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week, submit your name and e-mail address here .